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THE LATEST ON FORT HOOD, via POLITICO’s Philip Ewing: “Four people are dead, including a gunman, and 16 others were wounded Wednesday when a soldier opened fire at Fort Hood, Texas, the commanding general there said.

“Lt. Gen. Mark Milley told reporters that a soldier with the 13th Sustainment Command who was in mental health treatment walked into a building on the post and began shooting with a .45 caliber pistol. The man got into a car, drove to another building and resumed his shooting before he was shot by military police, Milley said. The soldier then killed himself with his pistol.” http://politi.co/1hDmZdN

-- THE SHOOTER: His name is Ivan Lopez, a soldier at Fort Hood. And Millery said he “had served four months in Iraq and was beginning the process to determine whether he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. The soldier was already being treated for depression, he said.”

-- THE GUN: “The shooter’s Smith & Wesson pistol had been purchased ‘recently’ in the area, Milley said, but it was not registered with Fort Hood base officials. Soldiers are allowed to have weapons on the post as long as they are properly documented,” Ewing reports.

-- THOUGHTS FROM HAGEL AND THE CHAIRMAN OF THE JOINT CHIEFS: “My sympathies go out to this strong and resilient community, which has experienced this kind of senseless violence all too recently,” Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said in a statement. “ There is nothing more important to us as an institution than the safety and well-being of our people, and for that reason I am grateful to all the first responders who rushed to the scene.

And from Gen. Martin Dempsey: “Our thoughts and prayers are with the Fort Hood community in the aftermath of this tragedy. This is a community that has faced and overcome crises with resilience and strength.”

HEADS UP — SENATE INTEL PANEL VOTES TODAY ON WHETHER TO DECLASSIFY THE CIA REPORT: And it looks like Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) will have enough votes now that Maine Senate Intelligence members Republican Susan Collins and Independent Angus King say they’ll vote to declassify parts of the CIA detention report, reports The New York Times’ Mark Mazzetti. http://nyti.ms/1dSZxcU

40K AND THREE TO FIVE DAYS TO INVADE UKRAINE: Finally, some official numbers about what Russia’s up to on the Ukrainian border.

NATO’s top commander, Gen. Philip Breedlove told The New York Times’ Michael R. Gordon that “the 40,000 troops Russia has within striking distance of Ukraine are poised to attack on 12 hours’ notice and could accomplish their military objectives within three to five days.” http://nyti.ms/1jYWzGu

He said “only a single battalion, a force of 400 to 500 troops, is on the move and that NATO intelligence could not say whether it was actually being withdrawn.”

In short, “This is a very large, very well-equipped force to be called an exercise,” Breedlove said.

“The Navy ship will be the first to enter the Black Sea since the destroyer Truxtun left March 21. It will arrive within the next few days to conduct joint exercises with U.S allies in the region, Defense Department spokesman Army Col. Steve Warren said.” http://goo.gl/TPRJqT

Warren said the additional Marine deployment was planned several months ago and is not directly linked to the renewed tension with Russia, according to Tilghman.

MORE ON UKRAINE

-- Russia is demanding NATO provide answers on its military activity in Eastern Europe. Reuters: http://reut.rs/1ijdEFC

-- Ukraine’s ousted president, Viktor Yanukovych, says in a new interview that Crimea is “a major tragedy” and concedes he was wrong to ask Russia to send troops to Ukraine. The Washington Post: http://wapo.st/1lDqWCr

-- NASA suspends most of its contact with the Russian space agency. The New York Times: http://nyti.ms/1h6r7Ej

-- The deportment and equipment of Russian soldiers in Crimea shows the military has undergone an upgrade since the 2008 war in Georgia. The New York Times: http://nyti.ms/1jDPSXJ

SIGAR ON THE HILL: The special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction, John Spoko, is testifying before the House Oversight National Security Subcommittee this morning and, as usual, his communications team is a step ahead of the game, offering Morning D a sneak peek at his planned remarks.

He’ll be focusing on the $18 billion the U.S. Agency for International Development has spent in the country. The No. 1 lesson from USAID’s experience: reconstruction programs must take into account the recipient country’s ability to afford the costs of operating and sustaining them.

“The U.S. government’s current reconstruction effort in Afghanistan has placed both a financial and operational burden on the Afghan government that it simply cannot manage,” he says in his prepared testimony. For example, if the Afghan government were to devote all of its domestic revenue toward sustaining the Afghan National Security Force, it would only be able to pay for half its costs.

YOU CAN’T KEEP EVERYTHING — CARRIER OR CRUISERS? via POLITICO’s Philip Ewing: Rep. Randy Forbes, “who chairs the House Armed Services seapower subcommittee, told POLITICO that he believes it’s likely Congress will ultimately find a way to keep the [aircraft carrier USS] George Washington in the fleet given its importance to national security. Doing that, however, might require a strategic concession to let the Navy take 11 of its cruisers out of service for now, as service officials requested in this year’s budget submission.” http://politico.pro/1pQqAHN

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MORELL: THERE WAS NO BENGHAZI COVER UP: Testifying before the House Intelligence Committee yesterday, former Acting CIA Director Mike Morell said there was never “any cover-up or political influence in messaging after the 2012 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi,” reports POLITICO’s Lucy McCalmont. http://politi.co/1mLsn1T

When the station chief on the ground in Libya reported that the attack could have been preplanned, the analysts back in Washington did not find the evidence immediately compelling, he said, noting that specific info never left CIA or made it to Susan Rice before she did the Sunday talk shows.

-- GREAT OPPORTUNITY FOR A YOUTUBE CLIP: GOP members of the intel committee were quick to disseminate videos of them grilling Morell, certainly not something that happens after most hearings on the Hill, but something that probably scores a few points back home.

GABBARD JOINS HASC: Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard — a captain in the Hawaii Army National Guard who served in Iraq — is joining the House Armed Services Committee, her office announced yesterday. She’ll fill the seat left open by former New Jersey Rep. Rob Andrews, who resigned in February.

“I look forward to working towards ensuring sound national security policy, and to cut waste and inefficiency within the Defense Department. I will continue my bipartisan efforts to reform our military justice system in order to end the epidemic of military sexual assault,” she said in a statement.

PART TWO OF WAPO’S MUST-READ SERIES ON VETERANS ISSUES: The Washington Post’s Greg Jaffe investigates why there are many more jobs promised to veterans than actual unemployed veterans, and yet thousands remain without work. http://wapo.st/1pOQdJ5

SCENES FROM AN ELECTION: These photographs from Bryan Denton for The New York Times transport you to Afghanistan as the country prepares to vote for a new president on Saturday: http://nyti.ms/1j3fHzJ

SPEED READ

-- Senate appropriators expressed skepticism yesterday of the Air Force’s decision to cut the entire A-10 fleet. The Hill: http://goo.gl/Yg9YEl

-- Bid protests from small businesses are making life “miserable” for the head of the Special Operations Command’s acquisition organization. National Defense Magazine: http://goo.gl/hSBIHv

-- Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson is moving to fill high-level vacancies as part of his effort to inject new energy into the department. POLITICO: http://politi.co/1gPQeu0

-- House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) is pushing the VA Management Accountability Act that would make it easier to fire VA officials. Army Times: http://goo.gl/rLQsx7

-- U.S. and Pakistan are reportedly finalizing a deal to send 160 U.S. military vehicles to Islamabad. Defense News: http://goo.gl/r2ucWL

-- The State Department calls Iran’s potential selection of its new U.N. ambassador, who was a member of the student group that stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979, “extremely troubling.” AP: http://goo.gl/ZS9IzJ

-- The commander of U.S. Forces Korea says he’s worried that budget cuts could affect the readiness for a military response to an attack from North Korea, a country he described as capable of attacking South Korea with “little or no warning.” Stars and Stripes: http://1.usa.gov/1lCSLea

MAKING MOVES

-- SENATE CONFIRMS STATE HUMAN RIGHTS OFFICIAL: The Senate confirmed Tom Malinowski for the State Department’s top human rights post. Several notable people — including David Petraeus and Madeleine Albright — wrote Senate leaders last week, urging Malinowski’s confirmation, which had been held for nearly nine months due to his status as a former lobbyist, reports The Washington Post’s Colby Itkowitz. http://wapo.st/QGWUB7

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